Just a few months before the start of the war the very first crossword puzzle was published.

Inventions during the War

The First World War saw innovations and inventions on the fields of battle with tanks, aeroplanes and poison gas all being developed. There were also advances in the field of medicine brought about by the injuries suffered on the battlefields. Away from the war what other new developments were taking place? What were the everyday inventions made in the prelude, the aftermath and during the war years of 1914 - 1918?

1.

Shortly after the War, in 1919, which kitchen device was invented by Charles Strite?

The fridge

The microwave oven

The pop-up toaster

The dish washer

The first electric toaster was invented in Britain by Crompton and Co in 1883. However, it toasted only one side of the bread at a time and needed to be watched in order to stop the toast from burning. Strife's design was a vast improvement

2.

The heat resistant glass Pyrex, used in laboratory equipment and kitchenware, was developed in 1915. How did Pyrex get its name?

Pyrex is an abbreviation of Polyrene Exide

Pyrex is Latin for 'Glass King'

The first product made of Pyrex was a pie plate

Pyrex is Greek for 'Burn Not'

An executive of the company which developed Pyrex said, "...we had a number of prior trademarks ending in the letters ex. One of the first commercial products to be sold under the new mark was a pie plate and in the interests of euphemism the letter r was inserted between pie and ex and the whole thing condensed to Pyrex

3.

The Hong Kong Noodle Company of Los Angeles claimed to have invented what in 1918?

Wanton soup

Dried noodles

Chopsticks

The fortune cookie

Seiichi Kito, also of Los Angeles, and Makoto Hagiwara of San Fransisco both say that they invented the fortune cookie and dispute the Hong Kong Noodle Company's claim. In 1983 a federal judge of the Court of Historical Review ruled that the actual inventor was Hagiwara. Whoever invented them, the cookies are based on the Japanese tsujiura senbei rice cakes which contain a 'fortune' hidden in their folds rather than placed inside

4.

Many advancements were made in the field of 'wireless telegraphy' during the war years. By what name is wireless telegraphy better known?

The telephone

Radar

Walkie-talkies

Radio

Lee de Forest was a pioneer in the development of radio. He invented the Audion, triode vacuum tube and has over 180 patents to his name. In 1916 he broadcast the first radio advertisements and the first radio report about an American election on his experimental radio station. De Forest was the first to use the term 'radio' and it caught on, replacing the older phrase, wireless telegraphy

5.

When the wife of Gideon Sundback died in 1911, he threw himself into his work and made developments to the 'Clasp Locker'. By 1917 his work was done and what new product came into being?

The zip

The Yale lock

The bicycle chain

The combination lock

The 'clasp locker' had been invented in the 1800s by Whitcomb Judson and was itself a development of the 'automatic, continuous clothing closure' invented by Elias Howe. Neither of these inventions caught on and Sundback improved the design by adding more teeth. He called his new invention the 'separable fastener' but we know it better as the modern zip

6.

On 3rd November 1914 a patent was granted to Mary Phelps Jacob for what invention, made from handkerchiefs and ribbon?

A sunhat

A brassiere

A surgeon's mask

A prototype parachute

Although patented by Phelps Jacob, bras were not new. Archaeologists have found bras in Austria which carbon dating shows to be from the late Middle Ages

7.

In 1916 it was announced that Henry Brearly had developed what material in the city of Sheffield?

Plastic

Galvanised Steel

Galvanised Rubber

Stainless Steel

Sheffield is now famous for its stainless steel manufacture, as a look at a typical cutlery set will attest. Brearly marketed his new invention as 'Staybrite'

8.

Just a few months before the start of the war the very first crossword puzzle was published in which newspaper?

The New York World

The News of the World

The New York Times

The Times

Despite being invented by an Englishman, Arthur Wynne, crosswords did not appear in Britain until 1922 when one was published in Pearson's Magazine

9.

In 1918 Edwin Armstrong invented the Superheterodyne for use in what?

Aeroplane engines

Radios

Car engines

Telephones

The Superheterodyne receiver converts a radio signal to a more easily processed intermediate frequency. They are still used in modern televisions and radios

10.

In 1914 American inventor Garrett Morgan invented what device for firefighters?

An extendable ladder

A smoke hood

A flame-proof uniform

A high pressure hose

Morgan's device was known as the 'safety hood and smoke protector' and was a forerunner to the gas masks used in the war. He also invented the traffic signal and a zig-zag stitching device for sewing machines. All this from a man whose parents were slaves